Chicago Tribune

Elimination of the segregated vice district in Chicago is practically
possible, means for its accomplishment are simple, and the result would improve
the moral status of the community and have a radical effect on the political
situation.

This is according to assertions made by J. L. Hamery, commissioner of public
safety in Des Moines, Ia., in an address delivered at the annual meeting of the
Illinois Vigilance association in the Y.M.C.A. auditorium yesterday afternoon.

Hamery said he bundled up segregated vice in the Iowa capital and shipped it
all to Chicago in less than a month.

The Des Moines commissioner — he is head of the fire, police and health
departments under a commission from of government — is a lanky, loose jointed
individual with a voice that wouldn’t frighten a field mouse and a well defined
hatred for municipal corruption and his personal political enemies.

Points the Way He Won Out.

He told about his fight on the dives, punctuating the path to victory by
frequent references to how he "soaked" his political opponents and taking the
Chicago audience into his confidence to the length of imparting his belief he
would be re-elected.

"I just decided I’d clean up the town," he said, after displaying a bulky
typewritten speech and then declaring he didn’t think he’d use it — "guess I’ll
just sort of talk to you awhile.

"Lots of folk around there who liked my style thought I could do it. My
enemies put me in the job just ‘cause they thought I’d fall down.

"Well, I found that the saloonkeepers were back of a lot of these resorts. I
noticed they were selling a lot of drink in them. So I issued an order saying
that there should be no liquor sold on their premises.

Bring Them to Their Knees

"Some of the landlords of those places had been getting $150 a month rent.
They cut the rent down to $100, then to $75, afterwards to $50, and then came to
me and got down on their knees and begged. They said the girls couldn’t pay the
rent. That’s what I was wanting.

"Next I issued an order cutting out the dance halls and all the music, and
when that went into effect the segregated vice districts of Des Moines just
dried up. The women nearly all went to Chicago, and as fast as we spotted the
men hangerson we fired them out of town, too.

"Now folks will tell you that when the red light district is eliminated the
decent women will not be safe on the street — bunk! Pure, unadulterated rot!

"Last month we had fewer arrests in Des Moinses than in any January for ten
years. We had only one or two holdups the entire winter through. We used to have
dozens of them. The yeggmen have increased the church attendance.

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